I can give 2 recent events that make me fully agree that unemployment is worse than we think.
1) We moved recently (just from one neighborhood to another) I go to pick up the U-haul. I ask where’s the dolly? The guy says he’s out. According to him, he’s rented hundreds of trucks to people moving back east (with his dollies) but only a couple dozen of people have moved here to SD to replenish his supply recently.
2) My wife will graduate soon. GPA extremely high, has good experience, major is a good choice – there should be great demand for people like her. Every time she goes for interview they explain that they were surprised to get hundreds of resumes for the sole position. Head-hunters tell her up front, there are just no jobs right now; job market is the slowest they’ve ever seen. She finally got something but what a painful process!